G. whereas as a result of the last EU enlargements (2004 and 2007), an additional 7 million farmers were added to the total agricultural labour force and the area of agricultural land increased by 40%; whereas real agricultural per capita income has fallen by 12.2% in the EU-27 for the past 10 years, gradually falling back to 1995 levels, whereas the average agricultural income in the EU-27 is less than 50% of the average income in the rest of the economy, while production costs for commodities such as fertilisers, electricity and fu ...[+++]el are at their highest level in the last 15 years, making the continuation of agricultural production in the EU very difficult,

G. whereas as a result of the last EU enlargements (2004 and 2007), an additional 7 million farmers were added to the total agricultural labour force and the area of agricultural land increased by 40%; whereas real agricultural per capita income has fallen by 12.2% in the EU-27 for the past 10 years, gradually falling back to 1995 levels, whereas the average agricultural income in the EU-27 is less than 50% of the average income in the rest of the economy, while production costs for commodities such as fertilisers, electricity and f ...[+++]uel are at their highest level in the last 15 years, making the continuation of agricultural production in the EU very difficult,

G. whereas as a result of the last EU enlargements (2004 and 2007), an additional 7 million farmers were added to the total agricultural labour force and the area of agricultural land increased by 40%; whereas real agricultural per capita income has fallen by 12.2% in the EU-27 for the past 10 years, gradually falling back to 1995 levels, whereas the average agricultural income in the EU-27 is less than 50% of the average income in the rest of the economy, while production costs for commodities such as fertilisers, electricity and f ...[+++]uel are at their highest level in the last 15 years, making the continuation of agricultural production in the EU very difficult,

Eligibility for such payments shall be determined by an income loss, taking into account only income derived from agriculture, which exceeds 30 % of average gross income or the equivalent in net income terms (excluding any payments from the same or similar schemes) in the preceding three-year period or a three-year average based on the preceding five-year period, excluding the highest and the lowest entry.

(b) thus to ensure a fair standard of living for the agricultural community, in particular by increasing the individual earnings of persons engaged in agriculture.

In the light of the memoranda forwarded to the Commission by Austria, France and Italy on hill farming and forestry, the opinion drawn up by the Committee of the Regions on a policy for hill farming in Europe, and the broad consensus regarding these traditional activities, which are seen as the cornerstone of any form of sustainable development in mountain areas, it is proposed that income support be stepped up for farms by means of compensatory allowances and that the principle of differentiated rates of assistance for mountain areas with regard to aid for investment, industry, technical improvements, processing and marketing of product ...[+++]s (farming, stockbreeding, forestry and other basic activities) should be maintained (reintroduced) in the regulation on rural development.